By Patty Vaughn

The Greenville Advocate

 

GREENVILLE — A five-hour chase led to the arrest of a woman wanted in Dallas County.

Butler County Sheriff’s deputies apprehended Lemeka Pate at approximately 8:30 p.m. Friday, after she led deputies on a foot chase through the woods near Highway 106 following a traffic stop.

Pate has been charged with escape, resisting arrest, attempting to elude and child endangerment. She was placed in the Butler County Correctional Facility and transported back to the Dallas County Jail Monday morning.

At 2:15 p.m., the chase started when a Butler County Sheriff’s deputy initially pulled over Pate, 27, for having no tags on her vehicle, according to Butler County Sheriff Kenny Harden.

“One of my deputies stopped this vehicle with no tag, and she asked for the driver’s license,” Harden said. “She said the driver’s license was in the trunk of her car.”

Harden said when Pate stepped out of the vehicle to go to the trunk, the deputy had discovered Dallas County had warrants of probation violation on Pate.

“When (Pate) came to the back of the car, she started resisting arrest,” Harden said. “She made it into the driver’s seat and took off in the car.”

Harden said Pate did not own the vehicle, but a woman who did own the car was letting her use the vehicle. Harden also said Pate might be charged with theft of property, first degree, for the vehicle, but that charge has not been placed on her at this time.

The vehicle chase began approximately a mile outside of Georgiana on Alabama Highway 106, Harden said. It was there that Pate fled the vehicle, leaving two small children behind. While fleeing the scene, Pate removed all of her clothing in hopes to lose any tracking unit, Harden said.

“She ditched the car and she ran into the woods and left the kids in the car,” Harden said. “The deputy stayed with the kids, and we got the K-9 unit out of Atmore (to assist with finding Pate).”

Harden arrived on the scene and called the K-9 Unit which arrived about an hour later to search the woods for five hours until the unit apprehended Pate at 8:30 p.m. The grandmother of the two children arrived and took the two children that had been abandoned, Harden said.

“Atmore K-9 did a great job there, and the deputies did an excellent job on that,” Harden said.  “The McKenzie and Georgiana police departments assisted us and the consultation officers there too.”

According to Harden, Pate is the same person who was involved in an incident with the Greenville Police Department for also endangering the welfare of a child and using stolen credit cards on Feb. 6.

She was charged with theft by deception, first degree and endangering the welfare of a child after fleeing the scene at the Hampton Inn in Greenville and leaving her one-year-old child in the car.